


Forceless

by SpiderMansUnfriendlyNeighbor



Series: On Second Thought [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Anakin Skywalker Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Anakin Skywalker Whump, Anakin Skywalker is the Chosen One, Anakin is Half-Force, F/M, Gen, Half-Force Anakin Skywalker, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Hurt Anakin Skywalker, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Force Is Weird (Star Wars), The Force is Anakin's Father, Whump, Ysalamiri (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:00:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28519008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiderMansUnfriendlyNeighbor/pseuds/SpiderMansUnfriendlyNeighbor
Summary: Anakin Skywalker goes to visit Palpatine in prison. However, to have a talk with his former mentor, Anakin must enter a Force-less bubble courtesy of ysalamiri.He's sure it'll be fine. After all, what could going without the Force really do to him?
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Series: On Second Thought [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1744039
Comments: 19
Kudos: 146





	Forceless

**Author's Note:**

> I am still working on The Power of Speech. Slowly. But I am still working on The Power of Speech.
> 
> I also have a couple of other fics in the works that I'd like to get a little closer to finishing before posting, but we'll see how it goes.

Anakin rubbed his chest. The stab wound had almost completely healed, but his chest was still sore. It was better than the horrible pain it had been, and he had been let out of his hoverchair several weeks ago, but, even though it had been months since he’d been captured by Palpatine, he wasn’t completely better.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Fox asked. Normally, the former clone commander, now in charge of the entire police force for Coruscant, wouldn’t be in attendance for a prisoner receiving a visitor, but given that Palpatine was the most high-security prisoner on Coruscant, Police Chief Fox Chuchi had decided to shadow Anakin as he went to visit Palpatine.

Anakin nodded, forcing his trepidation down. He wasn’t very excited at seeing the man who had tortured him, his former friend, again, but he’d talked about this with his therapist quite a bit, and they both agreed he needed to face him one more time for closure.

“All right,” Fox said. Anakin had already given up his lightsaber, so he didn’t have any weapons to surrender, but Fox gestured him through another scanner just the same.

As the scanner finished, Fox spoke up again. “As you step out of the scanner, you will feel the Force disappear. If this is too disconcerting, you can step right back out of the maximum-security area. However, if you choose to proceed, you will have to go through all exit procedures before leaving regardless of how uncomfortable you are. Do you understand?”

Anakin nodded. The lack of the Force was the second reason he was very nervous. Palpatine had been in an ysalamiri bubble since he had been recaptured, but Anakin had never actually felt the absence of the Force before. Even on the transport back from Mustafar to the ship, they’d had to make sure Anakin kept the Force because of his precarious health. He didn’t remember much, as he’d been dying at the time, but apparently they’d had to leave all but one of the lizards behind and station Palpatine with his guard and Anakin on opposite sides of the transport. Obi-Wan had told Anakin when he was starting to freak out about the upcoming visit that the Sith mask was nothing like an ysalamiri bubble. After all, even in that, they could use the Force, just with dire consequences. This time, he wouldn’t even be able to feel the Force.

“Ysalamiri bubbles do occasionally cause panic in Force users, but they do not cause any physical damage, so there is no reason to panic,” Fox continued.

Anakin nodded. If Fox went on any more about the Force bubble, Anakin might chicken out. “Can I step through now?”

Fox nodded. “Step through whenever you’re ready.”

Anakin swiftly stepped out of the scanner. Pain punched him in the gut. He doubled over, coughing. He gripped his chest, trying to keep himself steady, forcing himself to keep breathing. Everything hurt. His head ached, his muscles ached, and it took effort to do things that before were effortless. Breathing was a challenge, and standing was a chore. A part of him that had always been there had been ripped from him, and it was as if his very self was bleeding from the sudden deprivation.

Fox gripped his arm, keeping him steady. “Are you all right, sir?”

Anakin forced himself to straighten up, ignoring the pain and the dizziness that swept over him. His legs threatened to buckle, but instead, he took a confident step forward. “I’m fine. I’m ready to see Palpatine.”

The Force had been cradling its child in its depths ever since he had reemerged from the darkness with such pain and confusion. And now the Force’s child had disappeared. Not dead and gone, as he would have joined the Force and they would be together forever at last. Not lost in darkness, as he would have if captured or fallen. Not even unconscious or injured, as his Force signature would faintly echo back to the Force from wherever he was.

No, the Force’s child was simply gone. And so the Force screamed. Screamed for the child that was lost, screamed for the child that had been taken away from it, screamed into the mind of every person that could even faintly feel the Force inside them.

 _Find him for me!_ the Force screamed, as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda clutched their heads in pain, as the Skywalker children staggered, as the lost Sith on a distant planet had no idea what was going on, and those who had lived life unaware of their sensitivity believed they were going insane. _Find my child! Find Anakin Skywalker! Bring him back to me!_

_Find my son!_

Anakin blinked, surprised at the sight of Palpatine on the other side of the transparisteel. He looked terrible. The yellow jumpsuit he was in didn’t flatter him, and he was run-down. He had ragged hair, circles under the eyes, sunken cheeks, and was haggard. He seemed decades older than he had when torturing Anakin on Mustafar.

Palpatine walked slowly as he was escorted to the seat on the other side of the transparisteel by a clone. He sat down in the chair. Anakin tried not to collapse into his own chair.

Fox leaned forward and activated the two-way comm.

Anakin cleared his throat. “You, uh, look terrible.”

Palpatine’s eyes flitted around the room for almost half a minute before settling on Anakin. He straightened and cleared his throat. “Anakin,” he said, his voice hoarse. “My boy, how good to see you.”

Anakin flinched in surprise. The flinch set off a coughing fit he had trouble squashing down. This ship had taken off a long time ago. As soon as Anakin had turned on him in the trial, Palpatine had dropped the kindly old man act and gone full Sith on him. He swallowed and stuck to his original plan he’d talked out with his therapist. “I just need to know, and I know I have no way to tell if you’re lying, but…” he sighed. “Was any of it ever real? Did you ever really care about me, or was I just a tool to help you gain power?”

Palpatine just stared at Anakin for a while. Finally, he spoke, his voice gravelly. “Plagueis thinks you’re a threat. That you’re going to undo all our hard work. But I don’t think you’ll ruin the Grand Plan. You’re just like me. You can turn to the Dark Side and we won’t all die because you’re the Chosen One.”

Anakin frowned. He glanced up at Fox. “Is he all right?”

Fox shrugged. “His brain has been deteriorating ever since he’s been in the Force bubble 24/7. The doctors think he might have some form of dementia, but they haven’t gotten preliminary test results back yet.”

Anakin turned back to Palpatine. Dementia. He really was just a harmless old man now. He couldn’t hurt him anymore. Couldn’t manipulate him, couldn’t torture him. “You think I’m a threat because I’m the Chosen One?”

“Nope.” Palpatine popped the “p”. He shook his head. “Not anymore. I’m not scared of you anymore. You’ll join me and we’ll rule the galaxy together. Plagueis, don’t you think that’s a good idea?” He turned to the clone that had escorted him to the chair.

The clone ignored him.

So Palpatine and Plagueis had been scared of him. They’d believed he was the Chosen One and would destroy them and turning him was Palpatine’s way of keeping Anakin from fulfilling his destiny. “So you never really cared about me?”

“Cared, cared.” Palpatine swayed side to side in his chair, humming. “I cared for Kim and he was killed, and it was my fault. I didn’t care for my family, and I killed them. Cared, I haven’t cared for anyone in years.”

The words were a stab to Anakin’s heart, but they finally settled what he’d been wrestling with for seven years. Palpatine didn’t care. He never cared. Everything between them had just been a manipulation to turn him to the Dark Side. He glanced up at Fox, muffling another coughing fit and ignoring the pain that stabbed through his entire body. “That doesn’t seem like just dementia.”

Fox stared at Palpatine. “You’re probably right.” He shrugged. “It’s the doctors’ problem. At least this way, he’s less dangerous.”

“At least, that’s what he’d like us to believe,” Anakin muttered, staring down at his feet. He didn’t really think this too was faked, but there was always a possibility with Palpatine. That man was a snake. He turned to Palpatine, who was swaying and muttering what sounded like the Sith Code. “I want you to know that I forgive you. Or I’m trying to forgive you.”

Palpatine didn’t even bother looking at Anakin. “How weak of you,” he commented, then went back to muttering.

Anakin stood. Black spots dotted his vision. His legs buckled beneath him. He reached through the horrible pain swimming through him to grab the back of his chair. “I think…” He coughed hard, struggling to pull in breath. “I think I’m ready to go.”

Fox turned off the two-way comm, then grabbed Anakin’s elbow. “Are you all right, sir?”

“Fine.” Anakin’s voice was strangled. “I’m perfectly fine.” He took his elbow out of Fox’s grip and strode forward a couple of steps. Darkness crashed over him and he collapsed.

Anakin had refused to let Obi-Wan go with him, even though Anakin had spilled all his worries about visiting Palpatine to Obi-Wan multiple times. So Obi-Wan just nervously paced the hangar at the Temple where Anakin was supposed to return for a Council meeting after the prison visit.

After pacing for a few minutes, Obi-Wan picked up a hydrospanner, parked himself near the speeder he usually used, and pretended he was doing maintenance to hide the fact that he was waiting anxiously for Anakin to return. He monitored Anakin’s Force presence as it drew farther and farther away.

As soon as it disappeared, pain stabbed through Obi-Wan’s head. He dropped the hydrospanner and gripped his head in both hands. The Force itself screamed at him.

 _Find him for me!_ _Find my child! Find Anakin Skywalker! Bring him back to me! Find my son!_

Obi-Wan groaned. What was that?

The words pounded in him over and over, but the pain died away. Obi-Wan leaped into the speeder and flew off as fast as he could. If the Force itself was that upset over Anakin going into the Force bubble, then something had to be very wrong.

Obi-Wan flew the speeder faster than he ever had before. As soon as he got to the prison, he leaped out and bolted for the prison doors.

Inside, guards surrounded him, frantically spouting something about security and weapons and other rot. Obi-Wan shouted, “Jedi emergency!”, threw his deactivated lightsaber at the face of the nearest guard, and ran through every security checkpoint as fast as possible. He used the Force to augment his speed as he ran through the halls until he reached the maximum-security area.

Guards, mostly clones, tried to block him, but Obi-Wan used the Force to push them out of the way.

“Jedi emergency!” he said. “Sorry!”

Obi-Wan bolted into the next room, dodged more security guards, and ran through the scanner. Many of the guards, though, had left their posts and were gathered around a crumpled form on the floor.

“Let me through!” Obi-Wan squeezed between the guards until he reached the center of the cluster.

Anakin.

He was passed out on the floor, incredibly pale, his face in a grimace. Blood ran slowly down his pale skin from his nose.

Obi-Wan knelt and put his hand on his forehead, belatedly realizing he couldn’t scan his body with the Force. “What happened?”

“He was coughing and swaying as soon as he stepped into the Force bubble, and after he talked to Palpatine, he walked a few steps and then just collapsed,” Fox said.

“It’s the Force,” Obi-Wan immediately said, not sure why he was so certain. “He’s the Chosen One. He must be suffering because of Force deprivation.” He scooped Anakin up in his arms and stood up. “We must remove him from the bubble.” He walked out through the scanner and set Anakin down on the floor in the hall outside.

Anakin groaned, but didn’t awaken.

Obi-Wan placed his hand on his forehead and scanned him with the Force. Anakin’s entire body seemed…damaged. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly how, but every organ and system in his former padawan was somehow damaged.

“You can’t just rush in here and…” a guard that Obi-Wan had pushed out of the way started.

Obi-Wan picked up Anakin again and stood up. “Sorry, medical emergency.”

Fox stepped up. “I’ll clear the way ahead of you.”

Obi-Wan nodded, and the two ran through the prison to the exit, Fox shouting at the guards to let them pass. Finally, Obi-Wan reached his speeder. He set his unconscious brother in the passenger seat and buckled his crash webbing, then jumped in the pilot’s seat.

“Good luck, sir,” Fox said.

Obi-Wan nodded, in too much of a hurry to tell Fox there was no such thing. “May the Force be with you.” He buckled his own crash webbing and took off, speeding for the Temple as fast as he could.

Anakin’s body was battered and worn. Exhaustion dragged at him. He pushed himself up out of darkness, letting out a groan. An overwhelming sweetness lingered in his mouth. Bacta.

Why had he been in bacta?

He opened his eyes and blinked, blearily. “What happened?” He was in medbay. Again. But he hadn’t done anything this time, he swore!

“We’re not exactly sure,” Obi-Wan said. “How do you feel?”

“Awful,” Anakin said. He glanced around the room. Obi-Wan sitting by his right side, Padmé on his other side, zonked out in a chair. Poor thing. She hadn’t been sleeping well ever since she had gotten past thirty weeks of pregnancy. And…Master Yoda? Hovering in a chair by the end of his bed. “What is this, a party?”

“Remember what happened, do you?” Yoda asked.

“Uh…” Anakin slogged through his mushy memory. “I went to visit Palpatine. I stepped in a Force bubble and that hurt—”

“Hurt?” Obi-Wan broke in.

“Yeah,” Anakin said. “It hurt to breathe and walk and I was exhausted and my whole body hurt.”

“Interesting,” Obi-Wan murmured. He stroked his beard.

“Interesting?” Anakin repeated. “Is that not normal?”

Obi-Wan shook his head. “No one I know of feels pain when they are deprived of the Force.”

“Strong in the Force, I am, but even I, pain, I do not feel, when near ysalamiri, I am,” Yoda said.

Anakin furrowed his brow. “Then what went wrong?” What made him so different than everybody else?

Obi-Wan slapped his hand to his forehead. “Anakin, really?”

“What?” Oh, had he said that out loud? “I’m not that different than other Jedi, so why would the Force bubble affect me and not anybody else?”

Obi-Wan and Yoda both shook their heads this time.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said in that how-could-you-miss-this voice of his. “You’re the Chosen One.”

“No, I’m…” Anakin trailed off, for once not able to protest the title. He had felt like he was dying, like some intrinsic part of himself had been ripped away as soon as he stepped into the Force bubble. Maybe the Force really _had_ conceived him like Master Qui-Gon thought.

“The Force screamed as soon as you stepped into the bubble,” Obi-Wan said.

Anakin blinked. “It screamed?” he repeated.

“Felt it, everyone did,” Master Yoda said. “Even the younglings. Told us, it did, to find you.”

“It…it told you?” Anakin repeated dumbly. The Force had screamed and spoken to everyone to find him, just because he had stepped into a Force bubble. It was almost unthinkable. “Are you sure?”

“It was pretty unmistakable, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. “Everyone felt pain and a scream, then the Force asking for us to find its son, Anakin Skywalker.”

Vokara Che walked into the room, leveling a stern stare at Anakin.

Anakin shrank back in his bed.

“Someone managed to damage all of their internal organs and make the Force scream,” Vokara said.

Vokara Che was one of the few people that actually scared Anakin. “I’m sorry,” he said in a small voice. “I didn’t think that would happen.”

“You had to be in bacta for almost two days,” Vokara Che said. “Everything—and I mean everything—was damaged. From what I can tell, every cell, every organ, every bodily process in you depends on the Force. Even your very DNA was damaged. Thankfully, none of the damage is permanent, but I never want to see you going into a Force bubble again. Do you understand me?”

Anakin nodded meekly. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Do you believe me now?” Obi-Wan asked drily.

Anakin could barely believe it, but it was finally starting to sink in. The thing he had tried to deny since he was nine couldn’t be denied anymore. Even Palpatine believed he was the Chosen One. “I guess so. I always thought my mother was just…using a euphemism for rape when she said I had no father, but…I guess she wasn’t. I really am…” Anakin couldn’t finish the sentence.

Exhaustion and pain crashed over him. He yawned. “Can I go to sleep now?”

“Of course,” Obi-Wan said.

“Rest,” Vokara Che said. “I don’t care how much you complain, I will chain you to this bed if I have to to make sure you stay in the Halls of Healing as long as you need to.”

“Mmm,” Master Yoda said. “Talk to me, you should, once released from prison, you are. Much to discuss, we have.”

Vokara Che narrowed her eyes at the diminutive grandmaster. “So you’re the one. You’re the reason for the severe aversion to the medbay that plagues your lineage.”

“No idea what you’re talking about, I have,” Yoda said.

The Force was whispering to Anakin joyfully. _Welcome back, child._

He smiled and let himself drift off. He’d never take the Force for granted again.


End file.
